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New Zealand is well placed to benefit from China's Belt and Road initiative despite not being geographically located within it, says HSBC NZ chief executive Chris Russell.

The Belt and Road is China's largest foreign policy initiative. It aims to create a new economic zone based around the ancient Silk Road trade route from China overland to Europe (the belt) and China's ancient maritime shipping routes (the road).

There are more than 60 countries in the Belt and Road zone and China expects its trade with them to exceed US$2.5 trillion a year within the next decade.

As much as it was about creating new markets for China's economic expansion it was about improving the flow of trade and the access to those markets, Russell said.